Recipe swap: raw

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Put your saucepans away and don't bother pre-heating the oven... because this week we're looking for your RAW recipes. Whether you have a great salad to recommend or a steak tartare up your sleeve (figuratively speaking), share your recipe by noon on Wednesday 30 April. We'll print the best in Cook on Saturday 10 May.

The beautiful blossom inspired me to create this yummy fruity salad. The base is spinach, cucumber, and radish. The body is half a mozzarella and some chopped strawberries topped with mint leaves, black pepper, and a sprinkling of seeds. For the dressing I drizzled my salad with olive oil and a few spoons of home made parsley yoghurt. A truly delicious, nutritious, and light lunch!

One of the best pestos I have ever made. It has fresh flavour , vibrant colour and ready is under 20 minutes. Great choice for following vegetarian and vegan diet. Please find the recipe on my blog: http://www.multicultikitchen.com/2014/01/brussel-sprout-pesto.html

In a large bowl, whisk together the olive oil and lemon juice, then add the onions, garlic, chillies, spring onions and parsley. Stir in the chickpeas and pepper to taste. Finally, crumble over the feta and stir gently to combine. Set aside for an hour or so for the flavours to combine. Then serve.

Place the almonds, salt and cinnamon in the bowl of a food processor. Blitz until finely ground. Add in the sultanas/and or raisins, maple syrup, vanilla and 1 tablespoon of cold water and blitz until the mixture begins to stick together to form large doughy clumps.

Tip the mixture into the pie dish and using your fingers, distribute evenly along the bottom and the sides to form and even layer. Press to compact with your hands, shaping the crust flat around the rim. The thickness of the pie should be about 8mm thick. Chill in the refrigerator for 30 minutes or longer if your can.

Method for the strawberry and blackberry filling

Place about 250g / 2 cups of the blackberries, the dates, maple syrup and lemon juice in the bowl of a food processor and process until smooth. Transfer to a large bowl and stir in the remaining blackberries.

Pour the filling into the pie crust and distribute evenly with a spatula. Then evenly distribute the strawberry slices in between the blackberries in the pie. Refrigerate for two hours then cut into slices and serve chilled with optional ice-cream or cream on the side.

These super healthy little diamond bars taste better than the energy bars that are sold in the shops. Choc full of healthy ingredients they taste wonderful and were demolished by all the family. Enjoy xxxx

Makes approximately 20

Line an 18cm square tin with parchment paper or a proprietary liner

150g dried peaches or apricots

150g sultanas

150g stoned dates

Grated zest and juice of ½ orange

Grated zest and juice of lemon

200 ground almonds

50g sesame seeds

50 desiccated coconut

Place all the ingredients in a processor and blitz until and smooth. Line a square tin with paper and sprinkle with half the seeds and coconut. With wet hands spread the ‘dough’ onto the tin reaching the edges. Sprinkle with the remaining seed/coconut mixture and chill for 30 minutes. Cut into triangles or diamonds and serve as a delicious petit four or a healthy after school snack. Enjoy

This delicious bowl of raw ingredients tastes amazing and contains a wealth of healthy ingredients. Try it for a simple quick lunch along with crackers and salad or as an unusual starter at a dinner party. Taste the luscious goodness and enjoy. xxx

300g fresh organic carrots peeled and cut into chunks

3 teaspoons tahini

2 tablespoons ground almonds

1 teaspoon nigella seeds

1 teaspoon poppy seeds

10g fresh mint sprigs

15g fresh parsley sprigs

15g fresh coriander sprigs

Zest of 1 lemon plus 2 teaspoons lemon juice

1 teaspoon olive oil

Freshly milled salt and pepper

Place all the ingredients in a food processor and wiz until smooth. Season well with freshly milled salt and pepper. Chill for ½ hour for flavours to develop.

Serve with crunchy salad leaves such as radicchio and romaine lettuce. Enjoy

Sarah says, ‘This is the easiest ice-cream ever made. I invented it one afternoon with my daughters, when a load of spotty bananas glared at me from the fruit bowl. It’s so delicious and super-healthy.

2 ripe bananas

300g raspberries fresh or frozen

2 tablespoons water

2 tablespoons coconut milk or cream

Cut bananas in slices and freeze along with the raspberries. When frozen place all the ingredients in a bowl and blitz.

This incredibly moorish tart combines the fragrant lusciousness of the seasonal EU- threatened Alphonso mango with a gloriously moist gluten free raw pastry that takes seconds to make but tastes like heaven. Make the most of them while you can still get them.

This quantity makes a small tart enough for two – three

Line an 18cm fluted tin with clear wrap

2 Alphonso Mangos peeled and sliced – available in Indian shops

100g walnut halves

135g stoned dates

35g shredded coconut, save a little for the base to help to remove the ‘pastry shell’

Grated zest of an orange

1 cardamom pod ground and added to the pastry mix (optional)

Peel and slice the mangos. Weigh and combine all the remaining ingredients in the processor and wiz until a lovely paste is obtained. Line a small fluted tin with clear wrap. Sprinkle with the extra coconut Remove the pastry dough and press the mixture into the tin pushing well up the sides. Freeze for approximately ½ hour. Peel away the clear wrap and set the shell on a decorative plate. Arrange the mango slices around the tart shell. Serve and enjoy

Variations

Substitute 2 blood oranges for the mangos and sprinkle the fruits with cinnamon and icing sugar for a wonderful Moroccan take on a lovely dessert.

If you like peaches this is a little bit of peach heaven. A delicious dessert for summer !

You will need to start this recipe the day before

8 ripe peaches, peeled, stones removed

225g raw cashew nuts

100g dried unsulphured apricots, chopped

40g honey

juice of 2 large limes

50ml brandy

Place the cashew nuts in a bowl, cover with water and leave to soak overnight. In another bowl place the apricots and brandy, cover and also leave to soak overnight.

Drain the cashew nuts. Puree 3 peaches in a blender, add the cashews, the juice of 1 lime and blend until you have a smooth cream. Transfer to a bowl.

Roughly chop 2 more peaches and place in a food processor along with the apricots and the remaining lime juice, then blitz to a puree.

Dice the remaining three peaches and divide between 6 glasses, top the peaches with some apricot and peach puree and finally top with a couple of spoons of the cashew cream. Chill in the fridge before serving.

I am not only fortunate enough to live in Cornwall but also to have an amazing fish supplier, where the fish is day fresh, which is what you will need for this recipe. You will also need to start this the day before.

2 medium mackerel, filleted, pin boned and skinned

100ml still cider

70ml cider vinegar

40ml olive oil

12g ginger, thinly sliced

1 star anise

1 small shallot, thinly sliced

a few srigs of coriander

2 tsp honey

2 pinches salt

black pepper

To serve

green nori sprinkle

pickled ginger

Cut each mackerel fillet into quarters and place in a plastic container or dish.

Combine all the remaining ingredients, pour over the mackerel, cover with a lid and place in the fridge for 24 hours.

Remove the mackerel from the marinade and serve with a little of the nori and some pickled ginger.

A fresh and healthy raw Brussels sprout slaw with the added flavour of apples and caraway seeds. This is tossed in a delish mango yoghurt dressing. This will make you see Brussels sprout in a new light.

Mixed bean sprout salad…it doesn't get much healthier than this. Delicious too! I used a combination of lentil, pea, adzuki and garbanzo sprouts, but you could use whatever sprout combination you like. I don’t usually use garlic in my salad dressings, but the hardy little sprouts can handle it. The baby corn just adds a bit of fun to the mix.

I love this salad; it makes me feel like singing "all things bright and beautiful" - which really rather sums up both how it looks and how it tastes!

For someone who never used to like beetroot, it feels a bit weird now that I don't seem to be able to get enough of the stuff. Raw beetroot has a beautiful sweet and earthy base note which works really well with tart Nashi (Asian) pears. Musty-smelling cumin in the dressing gives the whole salad a bit of a smoky flavour and balances out the "earth".

If you are not planning on serving this immediately, I wouldn't dress it until the last minute - for some reason, dressings made with lemon or lime juice seem to develop strange flavours over time!

3 tbsp cold-pressed extra virgin olive oil

juice of 1 lime

2 tsp ground cumin

salt, to taste

1 medium uncooked beetroot, peeled and shredded

1 large carrot, peeled and shredded

1 nashi pear, peeled and cut into thin strips

1 tbsp sesame seeds

25g walnuts, chopped

Combine the olive oil, lime juice and cumin in a small jam jar. Put the lid on and give a good shake until the dressing is emulsified. Add salt to taste.

I really wanted to make this with a vegetable spiralizer, to give flowing strings of vegetables. Sadly I had to make do with my sturdy box grater to shred the beetroot and carrot. Place the grated vegetables and sliced nashi pear into a medium-sized bowl.

This is one of the simplest, most elegant dishes imaginable. Get a spanking fresh fillet of salmon - preferably from the centre section of the fish - and ask the fishmonger to skin it for you. Then cover it in a paste of herbs and salt, leave it overnight then wash off the cure, pat the fish dry and slice thin as you can.

You end up with a decadently fabulous plate of salmon, gently flavoured with ginger and herbs, the flesh almost ethereally rich. Presented simply with pickled ginger and Japanese soy for dipping it is definitely a contender for most fabulous starter ever.

200g salmon fillet, taken from the centre of the fish, skinned

1 large bunch coriander, chopped, stems and all

1 ½ tablespoons salt

1 ½ tablespoons sugar

1 tablespoon grated ginger

Chopped zest of a lemon

Mix everything together except the fish. Put the fish skin side down in to a non-reactive dish - enamel, china or glass. Cover with the cure mix and pat it into the flesh. Cover the dish with cling film and refrigerate for 12 - 18 hours. In this time a lot of liquid will come out of the fish.

Take the fish out of the dish, scrape off the herb mix, rinse quickly under the cold tap and pat dry with kitchen towel. Slice very very thinly and lay out on a flat plate.

Serve with separate bowls of pickled ginger - any asian supermarket will sell it - and some Japanese soy.

A good green salad is a wonderful thing. The disappointment is intense when ordering a green salad in the hope of crispness and bright flavours to be presented instead with a bowl of limp and manky leaves swimming in a non-specific oil.

1 head of fennel

100g rocket - the serrated leaf wild stuff if you can get it

3 stalks of celery

3 tablespoons spiced orange oil

1 tablespoon lemon juice

Salt and pepper

Wash the fennel and slice it thinly as possible across its roundness and discard the hard core centre. I slice the little fingers as well, they add a different shape and another shade of green. Put the fennel into a large salad bowl. Pick and wash the rocket and add that too. Wash the celery and slice each stalk into short lengths, stripping off any stringy bits then add it to the other vegetables. Mix the oil, juice and seasonings in a jar, shake it all about then tip over the salad and toss.

If you make it half an hour before serving dinner the flavours will meld.